Hellfire vs. Alternator help?

04-07-2013, 08:40 PM

I surfed my Hellfire yesterday and it ripped head high to over head surf, surfed my Alternator today twice in punchy 3-5 ft. barrels beach break. Both boards went really well but I kinda struggled hitting the top with the Alternator. Was wondering if someone could shed some light on the differences for me?

Is the Hellfire more front footed surfing as for some reason that board went really well for me with turns and cutbacks where the Alt. felt like it loved to be in the pocket more.

Any comments on front foot, back foot, paddling or any other insight would be helpful.

I posted some comments about the two boards in another thread but I can't say anything about the back foot, front foot thing. I can say vertical hits and pocket carves are something I found the Alt to be really good at...actually I just reckon it's a fantastic short board. A lot of words here to say I can't shed any light on the concern you've raised. Sorry!

off the cuff, without having seen you surf the two boards, I am guessing that what is keeping you from getting to the lip as easily has a little to do with the width and rocker of the alternator. Think less area in the nose and more rocker, which ultimately means a little slower in the same waves. The hellfire is going to give you added planing efficiency and will support a little extra front loading with out bogging and makes it easy to come off the bottom and into the lip even on a softer wave.

taking the alternator off the bottom and into the lip requires a more refined approach. generally speaking, you want to nail a more centered weight distribution and you may need to employ slightly more aggressive arcs and a more vertical approach to ensure that you are remaining with the steepest part of the wave.

just some subtle tweaks to your wave approach can make a HP shortboard feel really good!!

Thanks Chris as I know you love your Alternator. I will have to give it a try again and try to stay more in the pocket and look forward to a new challenge. The Hellfire makes it pretty easy as i was slicing and dicing on Saturday. I am sure you got some really good waves in SD as well.